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Morris Leisure backs prostate cancer awareness with £5,000 donation

Employees of Morris Lubricants and Morris Leisure in Shrewsbury adopted Prostate Cancer UK as one of their two charities for 2016 and raised £7,310 through a host of fundraising events throughout the year.

The companies’ owners rounded up the figure to £10,000, which has been divided equally between Prostate Cancer UK and The Movement Centre, based at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Gobowen.

Through shifting the science over the next 10 years to focus on radical improvements in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and support, Prostate Cancer UK aims to stop prostate cancer being a killer.

Roger Fallon from Pontesbury, near Shrewsbury was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012 and now, in retirement, he is a local volunteer speaker for Prostate Cancer UK. He talks to men’s groups and organisations across Shropshire and surrounding counties about the charity’s work and the importance of being tested for signs of the disease.

Accepting the donation from Morris Lubricants and Morris Leisure, he said: “£5,000 is an absolutely fantastic sum of money to raise for the charity. It will go towards either raising awareness of prostate cancer, further research or providing support for men diagnosed with the disease.

“The at risk group are men over the age of 50 but if you have a family history of prostate cancer, then you should be checked from the age of 45. There is a one in eight chance that men will get prostate cancer but the risk increases by two and half times if you have a family history.

“Getting checked involves a simple blood test at your GP. Men tend to be useless at getting themselves tested, but I believe that I wouldn’t be here today if I had not been tested and diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012.”

The charity is now pressing for all health authorities across the UK to have the facilities to give men an MRI scan before undertaking a biopsy of the prostate gland, so that diagnosis and treatment are not a postcode lottery. The scan has been found to be more accurate than a biopsy in identifying aggressive forms of prostate cancer.

The fundraising was particularly close to the heart of one Morris Lubricants’ employee Pat Spooner, whose husband, Reg, is currently being treated for prostate cancer. The couple thanked the companies for raising the £5,000 for the charity.

Morris Leisure’s managing director Edward Goddard said: “I am sure most people know someone who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, which highlights the importance of the campaign to encourage men to get tested. If the money we’ve raised for Prostate Cancer UK helps with the early diagnosis of just one man, then it will have been well worthwhile.”